


Vanishing Act (aka Disappearing Act) (Missing Scene)

by SummerdaySands (IvyMcAllister)



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Gen, I'm going to play with this toy until it breaks., Male Friendship, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-06
Updated: 2012-04-06
Packaged: 2017-11-03 04:21:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/377139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IvyMcAllister/pseuds/SummerdaySands
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SPOILER WARNING for eps. <i>Dead Drop</i> and <i>Vanishing Act</i> (aka <i>Disappearing Act</i>).</p><p>These scenes take place after Joey is kidnapped, almost run over and finally returned to his mother.  I thought it looked like he was trying desperately to hold himself together, and I also thought it wasn't fair to expect that of a 10 year old kid under those circumstances.  So I fixed it.  :)  (Well, to be fair, I let *Blair* fix it, which lead to some good bro-moments for J&B later on.)</p><p>Oh, and Joey Abbott and his mother, Elise, are canon characters from the ep in question--not OCs.  Which leads me to...</p><p>Disclaimer:  They're not my toys.  *sniffle*  They're Pet Fly's, but since they never play with them anymore, I've taken them out, dusted them off and dragged them into my own sandbox for awhile.  I'll brush all the sand off before I put 'em back--promise!  No money has been made.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Vanishing Act (aka Disappearing Act) (Missing Scene)

Elise, Joey in tow, entered her house with Jim and Blair close behind. Kneeling, she addressed her son. 

"I need you to go and play because I have to talk to these men, okay?" 

"But I want to stay with you," Joey said stubbornly. 

Sighing, Elise pulled him in for a quick hug. 

"Oh, sweetie…"

Jim started to speak, but Blair cleared his throat and glanced at his partner. This was something he could handle. 

"Hey, Joey, you know what I bet? I bet you're probably pretty good at games, huh?" Blair tried to put as much enthusiasm in his voice as he could.

"I've got a new Space Enforcer game... It's on my mom's computer." 

"Well, alright. What do you say you give me a lesson or two and then we play a couple games?"

"Okay..." While his lack of enthusiasm for the scheme was obvious, Joey seemed willing to play along. 

Blair wasn't going to let the momentum wind down. 

"Well, great! Lead the way, buddy." 

Joey didn't look back, just headed up the stairs looking defeated. 

Blair turned to Jim and Elise.

"You guys take as long as you want," he said. "I got a feeling the kid's gonna clean my clock." 

"Hey, wait up," Blair called. He turned and bounded up the stairs after Joey. 

When he reached the landing, he saw Joey disappear two doors down the hall on the left. He started up the last 6 steps, wondering if he should try to talk to Joey about the events of the past couple hours. The kid had to have seen through Blair's little ploy to give Jim and Elise a chance to discuss his father. Nonetheless, he hadn't argued--just trudged upstairs to the computer. Hell, he was probably scared shitless. Blair sighed. He knew he would be if the situation was reversed. 

When he got to the room, he stepped inside and saw Joey sitting at a large hardwood computer desk. Since the computer was still booting up, Blair decided to test the waters.

"So." Blair sat down on the floor alongside Joey's chair, crossing his legs.

Joey eyed him suspiciously.

_Aw, hell, Sandburg. It's not like it's gonna get any easier._

Taking a breath, Blair jumped in with both feet. 

"That was some pretty scary stuff that went down today, wasn’t it? Wanna talk about it?"

The boy's eyes narrowed. "No."

And the water was *icy.* 

Blair smiled a bit. "'No,' you don't want to talk about it or 'No,' it wasn't scary?"

Joey's eyes were locked onto the computer screen. "I'm not scared."

"Oh, hey, that's great, man! Because you know, every time I get kidnapped, it scares me stupid." He shook his head in mock disgust. "Every darn time." 

Blair noticed that Joey was listening while he typed in the password and waited for the computer to finish booting. 

"So, a couple weeks ago, I was stuck in this elevator that was, like, 30 floors up, and this guy was going to let the elevator fall if he didn't get all this money from the man who owned the building." He subdued a bigger smile when he saw that Joey's attention was now on him. The kid's eyes were like saucers.

"That was you? I mean, you were on the elevator? I saw it on the news." Joey was talking as fast as Blair ever did. "How'd you get out? They said there was as bomb, and somebody cut a hole in the bottom of the elevator and threw it out before it blew up!"

Blair had the modesty to blush. "Well, that was… well, it was kinda me who did that." 

"Oh, cool! I'm gonna tell my friends! That's awesome! Was that other guy there? The guy downstairs with my mom?"

"Yeah, Jim was there. He's my partner." Blair didn't bother with the technicalities. "You know, he climbed down the inside of the elevator shaft and made it so the guy couldn't drop us any farther. AND he climbed down the side of the building and crashed through this huge window and caught the guy who did it, all by himself." Blair felt a rush of affection for Jim as he described his roommate's heroics. Joey, meanwhile, was beside himself with 10-year-old-boy glee. 

Blair decided to try to maneuver the conversation back to Joey's feelings. 

"Let me tell you, man… I was *scared.* Heck, *Jim* was scared. And if you were scared today, man… It's okay by me. We all get scared, Joey." 

"I wasn't scared!" Joey was angry, but Blair stayed quiet, waiting. "I can't be scared."

"Why not?"

"Everybody say so."

"Who says so?"

"Everybody!" Joey was fidgeting, unwilling to look at Blair again. "After my dad… after he…" Unable to finish the thought, Joey just ignored it all together and moved on. "They all said I'm the man of the house, now. I have to watch out for mom. I can't be scared. I can't make her scared. I can't make her worried…" 

The flood of words tapered off, and Blair tried to decide how to handle this. Joey was obviously trying to be as mature as his ten years would allow, and to Joey, mature seemed to equal stoic. To Blair, the kid just looked young, sad and tired. Blair remembered how the boy had been crying quietly when they'd almost hit him in the alleyway. 

He'd clammed up the minute Jim and Blair had gotten out of the truck, sniffling furiously and wiping his face on his sleeve, trying to clean himself up so his mother wouldn't see how scared he'd been. Blair had wanted to hug him right there, but Jim had placed a restraining hand on Blair's shoulder, shaking his head. "Let him be, Sandburg," he'd mouthed silently. 

Blair had frowned, but he'd changed tracks and clapped a hand on Joey's shoulder. He'd asked him then if he was all right, and Joey had only said, "Fine, sir." Well, they'd gotten past the 'sir' stage, but the kid still didn't feel very comfortable talking about this stuff.

Blair had watched as Elise had run to Joey and embraced him, her relief evident as she ran her hands over her son's face, touching him to assure herself he was okay. She was crying freely, but Joey was holding it in. To Blair, it was obvious that if Joey had wanted to, he could have curled up in his mother's arms and let loose--she would have held him and comforted him and accepted it. She had already lost her husband--she wouldn't do anything that would risk her relationship with her son. 

A tiny sniffle got Blair's attention, and his face fell when he saw a single tear had made its way down Joey's cheek. The boy didn't even try to wipe it away. He sat, hunched in the oversized leather desk chair, and tried not to cry in front of Blair twice in one day.

Blair knew about trying to be brave. He knew about holding it in. He'd tried his best every time his mother went off somewhere that was, "just for grownups--you'd only be bored, honey," and left him alone again. While Blair had been lousy at hiding his hurt, Joey here seemed to be raising it to an art form. 

Another sniffle and a faint hiccup were enough to compel Blair to act. Jim wasn't there, so he was just going to do what felt right.

Rising to his knees next to Joey's chair, Blair put a gentle hand on one shuddering shoulder. 

"It's okay, Joey. It's okay. You can let it out, man. Nobody's gonna see you. Just relax and let it go. It's okay." 

Throughout the soothing litany, Blair had been slowly guiding Joey to lean into his chest. Once there, Blair could feel the boy's body trembling with the tension of self-restraint. 

Resting his chin against the top of Joey's head, Blair let his arms encircle the thin, too-warm frame. "It really is okay," he said softly. "Just do what you need to. Let it out. I promise you, it's okay."

Finally, the wall collapsed and a series of harsh, broken sobs escaped the boy. They must have hurt him as much physically as they had when they'd been locked away with the rest of the kid's shame. Joey hugged himself while Blair held him tightly, rocking unconsciously, instinctively in his intent to comfort.

Catching movement out of the corner of his eye, Blair saw that Elise had heard the sobs and was standing in the doorway looking stricken. She was about to come towards them, her arms already opening to comfort her child. 

Blair felt like a heel, but his promise that nobody would know had already been broken by paper thin walls and maternal instinct, and he was determined to preserve some of Joey's perceived dignity--at least until he could have a *serious* chat with the kid regarding modern societal misconceptions about masculinity. Blair caught her eyes before she got too close, shaking his head. Jim now stood in the doorway as well, scowling a bit. Despite the look, Blair knew he could count on Jim's guy-instincts to help him out.

Jim tried to escort Elise from the room with a hand under her elbow and an arm around her shoulders, nodding his head to indicate that they should head back in the direction of the stairs. She was obviously reluctant to leave, but Blair mouthed the word, "Later," and she frowned but allowed Jim to lead her away down the hall.

As soon as they were alone again, Blair turned his attention back to Joey. The kid had stopped sobbing now, and was simply resting against Blair and snuffling.

He cupped a hand around the back of Joey's head and leaned away slowly, breaking the contact. Joey refused to meet his eyes.

"Hey, man. Remember what I said? It's okay. Really." He let his hand drop to Joey's shoulder and tried to gauge how to proceed. "Okay, you think cops are brave guys, right?" 

Joey nodded.

"Well, Jim out there, you know, he was in Special Forces and in the Army, you see lots of hardcore nasty stuff. You think it never got to him, just because he's a guy?"

A shrug.

"Well, believe me, it does. People all cope with stress in their own way, and to try to force yourself to do something that doesn't come natural is… Well, it's just not healthy. You can give yourself ulcers. Panic attacks. And oh, boy, are *those* a lotta fun! Bottom line, Joey--no matter what anybody says, you are the only one who can decide how you feel about anything. Just you. And if you're scared, if you're upset, if you're… if you're mad at the world and you wanna scream, man, you've gotta let it out. In your room, in a tree, wherever. And I have to tell you, your mom won't think any less of you if you let her see how you feel."

Joey had listened to Blair's lecture without comment, but now he met Blair's eyes his own still red-rimmed and puffy. A hint of a smile made Blair's heart tighten. 

"Can we maybe play the game now?" Joey turned and took the mouse in his hand, opening the menu to search for the game.

"Sure, man. No problem. I'm *so* gonna kick your butt."

"Nuh-uh." A sniffle. "All ten high scores are me but one that's my friend Matt and even he could kick your butt."

"Bring it on then, man, I'm ready! No, wait a minute. How'd you do that? Where's the button for that? Hey, no fair! You can't do that…!"

"Just did!"

"No fair, man!"

* * *

Jim smiled as he heard the first giggle from the computer room. He'd kinda figured Sandburg wouldn't leave well enough alone--he'd seen the way Sandburg had gravitated to the kid's side after they got out of the truck. Blair had wanted to gather the kid up and squeeze, and Jim had stopped him. 

Jim had seen how hard the kid was trying to hold himself together for his mother, and any sympathy from Blair would have cracked the fragile shell the boy had created. So Jim had warned Blair off, making him settle for a hand on the kid's shoulder and a cuff on the head.

Now, though… Despite how he'd been raised, Jim was having his doubts. He knew Blair had meant everything he'd said to Joey. He also knew Blair had taken some liberties as far as Jim's ability to express himself was concerned. While Blair was dead right--all those things he'd talked about *did* get to Jim--Jim didn't usually share that pain with his partner. 

His partner.

Blair had said they were partners. Jim had said that himself, on occasion. But did Jim really think of them that way? Roommates, yes. Friends, definitely. But partners? Jim sighed. 

He'd heard the little burst of pride in Sandburg's voice as he'd accepted the credit for cutting the hole in the elevator floor. He'd felt Blair's admiration when he'd told Joey about Jim's climb down the elevator shaft--and the side of the building. 

He knew he hadn't really acknowledged Blair's role in things. And he knew that Blair was the last person who'd point it out to him. Because despite Blair's little speech to Joey, Blair didn't always practice what he preached. Blair accepted whatever Jim threw his way and was glad to have it. Hell, Jim hadn't mentioned the stuff with the elevator. He'd heard what Blair had done--he'd seen him in there with those people, heard him, and he'd been proud of his partner. 

He figured it was about time he said so.

* * *

Blair came downstairs alone. Joey was asleep, and Blair's knees were killing him. He stretched when he reached the bottom, turning when he heard Jim's voice.

"Hey, chief. Simon called. We have to go."

"No problem, man. Joey's asleep, by the way. Kid was exhausted."

"I heard, Chief."

"You heard? Jim, man, you were listening to us?"

"I figured you might decide to have a talk with him, Chief. I was just…curious."

"You mean you thought I'd scar the kid for life! Jeez, Jim, give me some credit here, man. I was trying to help."

"I know, Sandburg. And you did good." Jim paused, uncomfortable. He didn't let it stop him, and said what he knew he should have said weeks ago. "And you did good in that elevator too, Blair. With the people,*and* the bomb. I heard about it from the guys in the sweep up crew, and I have to tell you--I never would have thought of that. You did good, partner." Jim put an arm around Blair's shoulders and reached up to ruffle the kid's hair. 

Blair was beaming, a blush spreading over his cheeks. "Just trying to save my butt, man. You were the one climbing down elevator shafts and rappelling down the sides of skyscrapers without a safety."

"Yeah, well, what can I say, Sandburg?" Jim smiled at his partner. "I was motivated."

 

\- End, _Vanishing Act_ Missing Scene -


End file.
